Stereotype-plate-cooling apparatus



Dec. 2, 1930. o. c. RoEsEN STEREOTYPE PLATE COOLING APPARATUS FiledMarch 5, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet l 7 /////////J//J/ f Dec. 2, 1930. o. c.RoEsEN.

STEREOTYPE PLATE COOLING'APPARATUS Filed March 5, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet'zo l by 'a separate means;

.. osoAR CHARLES ROESEN,

ing 'drawings in which Patented Dec. 2, 1930 l UN`Il'1V-fll`1r fSTA'rESPATLENT` o1-Ficfa or BROOKLYN, iirEWYoRK, As'sIGNoR To Woon Nnwsranni?.V

MACHINERY conroneriomoir Naw YORK, N. Y., A conronATIoN F viRGrINIAVsTEREomYPE-rLnrE-oooiirne APPARATUS- AIipii'ciio-n i'iea Maren 5,

\ This inventionrelates tok the cooling of cast stereotype printingplates after they aire Cast. Y Y

' The principal object of :the invention is to utilize lthe periodduring which the plates ltravel from thefcastiiig room to the pressroom, orth'eir'equivalents, for'c'ooling the plates landYto providepracticaland simple mechanism for that purpose.L

"Other oh'ectsand advantagesk of the invention willappeai Vhereinafter.VVReference is to" be had to the accompany- 1 is a side viewfpartlyinsection-of one enibodir'ne'n't of this invention;

F ig. 2 is a similar View shovviiigzanother Wayof cooling the plate inaccordance with this invention; l Y

Fig. 3 is'arsi'mil'a'r view of a forni of the invention in which theplatesV areimlnersed Fig.` 4 is a similar view of a fourthconstructionffor thispurpose5fand 5' is an `end viev7 of'thefniechanismshowninFig. Y" 'V When a newly cast: plate is delivered from thelcastinginachine, `it is toofhot to;l be handled by the` operator unless'sonieforni 'of cooling, is provided; `Several methods of oolingshavebeen" devised' for this purpose, butthe presentinvention relatesto theVcool'- ing fof the plate whilefittravels from the casting room to thepress yrooin, soth'at no time really'is lost bythe cooling process, the

cooling all taking effect Vwhile the'plate is travelling-froth 4ioneposition to the other,

where ithasto Atravel anyway.

`One of the simplest 'forms 'of :cooling is shown inFig. l. In thisfigure'thepla'te P is taken upbyan'endless chainconveyor'l() passingaround sprocket ,wheels` 11"'an'd driven by a motor 12. AThis conveyoris pro*- vided withlugs 13 at intervals-which, upon coming around intolcontact'with the plate located over the'conveyor,vwillwengage the. rearedge Vand. inove the rplate"along a pair` `of angle iron guides or"tracks/l. These. guides or tracks 14 extend Vfr orna.point adjacent'theA 'cafstingfapparatus iiijtheeasting ''Y Mid itliepl; are? dllvd ''ll'l- 1927. seriai No. 173,159.

usedv ordinarily for Vtakingthe plates from i the casting 'rooin to thepress roonfror at least frorn one placeto another. This con: veyorvalso1takes up the plate shown at the left in Figvlin the castingroom,.the plate being delivered to it, preferably by the castingmachine, inf p'ositionto be engaged by the lugs 131.- The plate slidesalongA with its edges on the two tracks 14 toja position indicated atthe 'rightlwhere itentersv the press rooin and istaken oifthe conveyorvby hand and utilized in the ordinary way.V The conveyor is endless,passing :back to: the starting position 'in the usualwayr 1 For thepurpose of' utilizing the time re- 'quired for takingthe plate freni theposi" tion 'shown'at the left in Fig. llto thatshown at'the right, Ieinplfoy a tank 15 filled with water, preferably. Instead of' having lthev tracks 14 straight from one position to the other, Iv deflect thetracks down into .the tank so `that the pla-te is forced to travel `downthrough the water for cooling it and npagain tothe proper level fordelivery. The chains ofcourse pass through vthe same curved path. Inthis vway-th`ep'late's arel cooled while they travel from the castingro'oin to' the press room and notinie'is wasted in special cooling It isnot necessary to irnnierse'the plates in water and inFig. -2 I' haveshown a `modification vof the forinshown in Fig- 1 ini-Which. thesarneconveyor and tracksare used except that they are 'not `deflectedfrom the horizontalpath." Insteadof going through a tank "andbeing`:ilr'iinersed they I plates are? lpassed over a saddle '20 which 'issupplied'with 'coolingvwatr through-\'a"pi1:ie21. f The saddle isprovided with perforations22 through which the water is discharged onthe surfaceofthe saddle te come ntecentact with the inside of the plate.'The' saddle is provided with grooves 23 `for receiving it and drainingit oli' so aS-to Cool the platelon the interior. In

this case the plate passes along a. straight path, preferably. Thesaddle may be of any desired length to secure the necessary coolingbetween one end of the conveyor and the other.

Another form of the invention is shown in Fig. 3. Tn this case the plateis taken along a straight track 24 formed of angle irons or the like, bya chain conveyor 25 which has only al short travel. The conveyor takesthe plate from the point at which it is deposited by the casting machineand, by means of its lugs 13, moves it on a cradle 26 as indicated inthe drawing. This cradle at this time is located at the level of thetracks 24 and in line with them. The plate is simply pushed on it by theaction of the conveyor.

This cradle is pivotally hung from one pair of arms of a reel 27 whichis mounted on a shaft 28. On the shaft is a worm wheel 29 operated by aworin 30 on the shaft of a motor 31.

The electrical connections are not shown in full but when the plate ismoved into the position shown on the cradle 26 at the left; the lug 13,coming around underneath the end ofthe conveyor, closes a Contact 32.This Contact is located in the motor circuit and closes that so as tostart the motor. It will be seen that th-e conveyor 25 travelscontinuously through its motor 12. Now the reel composed of the arms 27starts to rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow and movesaround until the plate just deposited in the cradle reaches the positionat the bottom. This reel is located over a. tank 15 such as shownin Fig.1 and the rotation of the reel immerses the plate. At this point a. lug33 on another arm of the reel comes int-o contact with a limit switch 34which breaks the circuit and stops the motor and therefore the reel inthat position.

By this time another plate comes along the conveyor 25 and is moved on'to the next cradle 26 and the contact 32 is again closed which startsthe motor and the reel again. The reel rotates through a third of arevolutionV in the form shown and then stops and the plate we have beendescribing comes up to the position indicated at the right hand side ofthe figure, where it hangs horizontally as shown. Now when the reelstarts the next time, an arm V35 on the cradle comes into contact with afixed stop 36 and during the first part of this third of a rotation thecradle is tilted to the dotted line position. The plate then slidesydown ther cradle by. gravity on a series "of rolls 37 vwhich arearranged in in-` clined position and finally on va track 38 which `islike the track 24. The two lower edges of the plate rest onthe two angleirons, forming the tra-ck. Here the plate is picked up byanother'conveyor 39 and carried therefrom to the press room. Y

It will be seen that'the revolving motion of the wheel is intermittentand is started and stopped automatically by the actio-n of the inrcomingplate and the reel itself through the two switches 32 and 34. In thisway all the plates are cooled the same length of time and come into thepress room in substantially uniform condition and ready for the press.

The same invention can be carried out in other ways, one of which I haveillustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. In this case the plate P is brought downan incline by the action of a conveyor 40. It is deposited on aninclined platform 41 mounted on the top of a stationary disc 42, whichdisc also is inclined to give the platform its proper inclination sothat the plate will slide down it by the action of gravity. This disc 42has an opening 43 large enough to allow the plate to pass through it,this opening being slightly off center. The end of the plate enters theopening and comes up behind the wall of a drum 44. This drum is mountedo-n a shaft 45 arranged atfright angles to the plane of the disc 42 andtherefore on an inclination. It is operated continuously by a motor 4Gthrough worm gearing 47. This drum is provided with openings 48, shownas four in number. rThey are at the same distance from the center of theshaft 45 as the opening 43 and have the same shape. A

lVhen the drum comes around in its rotation so that an opening 48registers with the opening 43, the plate will slide down into thisopening 48 and come up against a disc 49 which is like the disc 42. Itis located parallel with it and is provided with one opening 50 which iscentrally aligned and therefore out of alignment with the opening 43.Therefore the plate when it comes down through the opening 48 engagesthe disc 49 and cannot pass out .through the opening 50, but is forcedto rotate around the drum 44. Then it passes into a tank 51 and as theparts do not fit closely, it immerses the plate in water in the tank fora definite period of time and then brings the plate up. When it reachesthe top, the plate will eventually register with the opening 50 and passout through the same o-n an inclined shelf 52 down on an inclined seriesof rollers 53 to a conveyor 54 to be delivered wherever desired. Theopenings 43 and 50 are larger than the plate to allow the drum to movethrough a part of a revolution without rubbing the plate against theedges of these openings. The drum of course rotates slowly.

n all forms ofthe -invention shown, the same advantages are secured4 asexpressed above, and the amount of cooling is uniform for the dierentplates so that they all reach the press room in the same condition ofcoolness and ready for use.

Although I have illustrated and described onlyfour forms of theinvention I am aware of the fact that other modifications .can be madetherein by any person skilled in the art without departing from thescope of the invention as expressed in the claims.

Therefore, I do not wish to be limited to all the details ofconstruction-herein shown and described` but what I` do claim is 1. Ina'device of the character described, the combination with a conveyor andtracks for supporting the straight edges of stereotype printing plates,Vthe conveyor being ar. ranged to move the plates along the tracks, ofmeans located adjacent to the tracks for subjecting the plates to theaction of a cooling medium as they pass along under the iniluence of theconveyor; i

2. In a plate cooling machine, the com-V y bination withl two conveyorsseparated from each other, the first conveyor beingadapted to take aplate from the casting room vand move it along a certain distance, aplate immersing vmechanism in position to receive a plate from the irstconveyor and move it down into a tank of water to cool it and up `againto deliver it, the second conveyor being located at the other end of themachine in position to receive the plate from the immersing device anddeliver it.

'8. In a plate cooling machine, the combination with a feeding conveyorand adelivery conveyor for the plates, of a rotary member locatedbetween them and adapted to receive the plates, av cooling tank belowsaid member into which the plates 'are passed by its rotation and outoit which they are moved by therotary member .on the opposite side ofsaid tank into positionto be deposited on the delivery conveyor. n

l. In a plate cooling machine, the-combination with a reel, of a seriesoit' cradles pivotally mounted on the arms of the reel and hanging downin a horizontal position to receive a plate, means for rotating the reelintermittently so as to immerse a plate located on one Vof the cradlesin a tank of water below and to move another cradle into receivingposition and then stop, and means for automatically starting andstopping the reel in proper position forvreceiving and delivering theplates.

5. In a plate cooling device, the combination with a tank having'coolingWater therein, of a reel located over the tank and having armsprojecting therefrom and cradles connected with said arms, of a motorfor rotating the reel having electrical connections by which, when thereel rotates to a position in which one cradle is in position to receivea plate, the motor and reel will be stopped and, when the reel isstarted, it will be turned to bring'that plate down into the tank forcooling it.

6. VIn a plate cooling device, the combina- Y tion with av tank havingcooling water therein, of a reel located over the tank, a motor forrotating the reel having circuits for controlling it, said reel having aseries of pivotally depending cradles for receiving and holding theplates to be cooled, the reel having means for stopping the motor whenone of said cradles reaches receiving position, means for delivering aplate to a cradle in receiving position, and means on the deliver-V ingmeans for starting theV motor when the plate is so delivered, wherebythe plate will be lowered down into the tank to cool it.

' 7 In a plate cooling'device, the combination With a cooling tank, of areel located above it and having a series of cradles for receiving' theplates, means for delivering a Vplate to a cradle in receiving position,said means having means for starting the motor when the'plate is sodelivered, whereby the reel will rotate and immerse the plate in thetank, means on the reel for stopping the motor when another cradle onthe reel reaches the position to receive a plate, and means whereby wheneach cradle reaches delivery position it will be inclined to deliver theplate Y out of the cradle by gravity.

8. In a plate cooling device, thecombination with a cooling tank, of areel located above it and having a series'of cradles for receiving theplates, means for delivering a plate to a cradle in receiving position,whereby the reel willv rotate and immerse the plate in the tank, andmeans whereby when eachcradle reaches delivery position it will beinclined vto deliver the plate out of the cradle by gravity.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto af- Yfixed my signature.

OSCAR CHARLES ROESEN.

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